You should have a beer with your dad.

Our mission at The BeerFathers is to teach you to stop worrying and love the beer. Our secondary mission is to drink a lot of beer. Our tertiary mission is to give you ratings on those beers - objective, unbiased, opinionated, prejudiced ratings based on what we find good about beer. Take it with a grain of salt or preferably one of those big beer pretzels they sell in Munich. Those things are great.

And recently from the Beer Blog...

Winter’s Bourbon Cask Ale

By Dad on February 8, 2007 (No Comments)

Technically, the Winter’s Bourbon Cask Ale Limited Edition by Anheuser, the label says ale aged on bourbon barrel oak and vanilla bean. Curious? Me too. Pours light amber with a definite vanilla aroma and something else I can’t place – maybe caramel. Vanilla taste comes through very strongly fairly sweet with very weak hops. I would prefer a little more hops but just a little. I couldn’t pick up any bourbon undertones because of the vanilla. The more I drank the more annoying it became as the vanilla overpowered everything. Sorry I bought a 6 pack. Had to knock that puppy in the head and pour out 3. Yes I tried it again just in case. Just a hint of vanilla might work but not that much.

Winter’s Bourbon Cask Ale Rating: 0 out of 10 (?)

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Redhook Winterhook Winter Ale

By Dad on February 8, 2007 (No Comments)

The Winterhook by Redhook pours light amber. Head light tan and rather thin. Caramel aroma. The caramel taste comes through but rather sharp hops hide any sweetness. Has 6% alcohol which earned it an extra point. Color and alcohol the only good points I could find. Glad I only bought one. Leave on the shelf.

Redhook Winterhook Winter Ale Rating: 3 out of 10 (?)

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Ayinger Jahrhundert Bier

By John & Dad on February 3, 2007 (No Comments)

Note: The Ayinger Jahrhundert Bier was reviewed by both John and Dad on different days and originally posted as two separate reviews. We usually do our combined reviews together in one post, so this post has been edited to bring you both reviews on one post.

Son Beer Love Review (February 3, 2007):

This is my second tasting of the Jahrhundert Bier. Ayinger makes some exceptional beer – this one is subtitled (and roughly translated to) a “Century Celebration Bavarian Lager.” The bottle is 1 pint, 1 ounce, as are most Ayinger bottles. I found it at World Market and wanted to try it a second time because my initial thoughts of it were so high I thought it may be too good to be true. Could it withstand a second scrutiny? Indeed, it does.

The pour is good – it’s golden and clear with a nice head. The head looks like whip cream and makes you want to dive in. An unassuming, but familiar smell, you don’t know what to expect as it looks like any other beer. The first taste makes me tilt my head and close my eyes. “Did I just taste what I thought I tasted?” Second taste confirms my initial thoughts – this beer tastes like Germany. And that smell? It smells like a beer tent at the Wiesn. Dad and I were in Germany for Oktoberfest in 2006 and this reminds me of that. It reminds me of being in a beer tent with a huge beer, eagerly gulping it down and eating a huge beer pretzel, waiting for our beer wench to take our order for a half roasted hendel. It’s smooth, so very smooth. Not much aftertaste – just a clean finish. It has a touch of sweetness to that makes me almost place it somewhere between a nice Munich lager beer and a Radler (our dessert beer in Munich – half beer/half lemonade). You want to gulp it down as if you’ve got a full liter stein, but you open your eyes and realize you’ve just got a frosty pint glass. Yes – this beer makes me feel like I’m in a beer tent in Munich and it makes me want it that much more.
In researching online I noticed it has won some awards – Gold Medal and World Champion – 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003 World Beer Championships. A must try beer.

Father Beer Love Review (February 16, 2007):

Pours a cloudy medium gold with a nice white head. Smells clean and faintly wheatish. Slightly sweet and fairly light hops but still definitely present. Has a light to medium light finish but in this case it is a great thing as it helps me remember the wonderful taste a bit longer. Later I can catch a bit of floral aroma. The sweetness reminds me of the great radlers @ the Augustiner Keller in Munich. This is the real deal.

Only halfway through and I’m still shuddering at the taste of this wonderful bier and tears are welling up in my eyes as I contemplate the end of the bottle. God make the bottle more full than when I put it back in the icebox PLEASE. I can’t even imagine what this would taste like on tap. If I only had a real German bier pretzel this would be as close to heaven on earth as anything could be. Just tried it with some pretzel sticks (bad American bakers) and the saltiness heightened the flavor.

The remarkable thing is balance in the brew. Harmony is the key word. Everything comes together in a beautiful harmony. After I finished I wouldn’t even pour my American beer into the same pilsner glass. I really look forward to my next one.

Ayinger Jahrhundert Bier Rating: 8 out of 10 (?)

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Abita Wheat

By Dad on February 3, 2007 (1 Comment)

Pours medium gold but non-cloudy. Distinctive wheat aroma. Head thin. Miss the wheat taste and surprisingly heavy hops. Way too much hops for a hefe or weissbier. The appearance was clear, not cloudy, should have been warned. If this is a hefe why was it clear? Where was the hint of sweetness and the lemony and pepperiness of a GOOD hefe? The label said to pour it over ice with lemon. If I wanted to make lemonade I would. No hint of sweetness or if there is it is overpowered by the hops. Other than the aroma it is hard to tell it apart from a cheap American beer, which I am well acquainted with. One of the most disappointing Abita beers I’ve had. Not bad enough to pour out, but a great disappointment from a company that makes some really good beers. Hope to review them at a later date.

Abita Wheat Rating: 2 out of 10 (?)

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Unibroue Trois Pistoles

By John on February 1, 2007 (No Comments)

A dark brown Belgian ale with a thick head that clings to the glass as you drink it. It smells fruity and tastes a little bitter with a lot of flavors coming at you and has a bit of a hoppy finish. It does feel good in your mouth though. It definitely is a force of a beer at 9% and is very complex – may be too complex for my taste. May be one to try again in a few months. It’s brewed by Unibroue, the same company who blessed us with Maudite. To me it was not as good as the Maudite, but that’s not to say it was a bad beer. If you can find it at World Market it is worth a try.

Interestingly, I looked it up at ratebeer.com, where it rates in the 99th percentile with a score of 4.02/5.00 (a very high rating). Some of the reviews cite a plum and raisin flavor, which may be why I didn’t like it as much as the Maudite (I’m not yet able to discern individual flavors like that but I know those are two fruits I don’t seek out often).

Unibroue Trois Pistoles Rating: 6 out of 10 (?)

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Sam Adams Cherry Wheat

By John on January 28, 2007 (38 Comments)

This beer is bad. How bad? I poured 4 of the 6 bottles down the sink. A single tear was shed because I hate to see any beer go to waste, but this was undrinkable bad. Too hoppy, too much cherry – it was almost medicinal. Yes – almost like that cherry robitussin you had to choke down as a kid. I think any kind of fruity beer should have a hint of fruit, not an overpowering taste of fruit. Don’t waste your money on a six pack or a single. Sam Adams can make some good beer, this just isn’t one of them.

Sam Adams Cherry Wheat Rating: 0 out of 10 (?)

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